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Support Unit

Beyond the technical assistance directly provided by the JMDI Team to the beneficiaries of the JMDI funded projects, the M4D Net puts at disposal an online Support Unit for the M4D Net members, regardless of their country or focus in the field of migration and development.

Our Team in Brussels (composed of experts from all partner-agencies of the JMDI), together with the Focal Points in JMDI’s target countries are dedicated to respond to any questions that you may have and connect you with other migration and development experts.

Engr. Luis G. Banua

Location:

Laguna, Philippines

Organization:

National Economic and Development Authority Region IV-A; Calabarzon Regional Development Council

Mr. Luis G. Banua is currently the OIC-Regional Director of the National Economic and Development Authority Region IV-A and the Vice-Chairperson of the Calabarzon Regional Development Council (RDC). Dir. Banua also serves as the Chairperson of the Committee on Migration and Development under the Calabarzon RDC and the lead coordinator for the Strengthening, Upscaling and Mainstreaming International Migration and Development (SUMMID) Calabarzon Project. In June 2015, he shared “Migration and Development (M&D) Initiatives in Calabarzon” to raise awareness on initiatives geared toward local economic and agricultural development and setting up of the One-Stop Resource Migration Centers (OSMRC) in Calabarzon during the PinoyWISE Marketplace events in Milan and Rome. Last November 2014, he presented the partnerships and links on M&D during the PinoyWISE International Conference in Abu Dhabi and he served as a keynote speaker on the Market Place event in Doha. He joined meetings with hometown associations, distressed OFs and embassy officials in United Arab Emirates. He also served as the resource speaker on “Reintegration and Regional Development” during the Reintegration, Planning and Counseling Seminars conducted in the provinces in Calabarzon. Dir. Banua is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in Bicol University, Program in Development Economics in the University of the Philippines Diliman, Master in Management in Bicol University, and Master in Public Management and Development in the Development Academy of the Philippines.

Dr. Malu C. Barcillano

Location:

Naga City, Philippines

Organization:

Center for Local Governance, Ateneo Naga University

Dr. Malu Barcillano is currently the Director of the Center for Local Governance (CLG) of the Ateneo de Naga University. She is at the same time the Program Director of the Master in Public Administration and Master in Business Administration Programs of its Graduate School. As the Director of the CLG which is one of the extension units of the University and an arm of the MPA and MBA Programs of the Graduate School, she is responsible in providing technical assistance towards genuine participative governance through strong and sustainable partnership with various stakeholders. She is an accredited trainer of the following courses: Basic Customer Service Skills (BCSS); Basic Group Facilitation Methods; Barangay Planning and Budgeting, Real Property Taxation, Municipal Environment Planning and Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation. These were the courses developed during the implementation of the Associates for Rural Development-Governance and Local Democracy Project of the USAID. She was also involved in the Barangay Justice Service System project of the Gerry Roxas Foundation. She is a recognized trainer on Public Service Ethics and Accountability of the Civil Service Commission and UNDP. She has been with Ateneo for 22 years, starting as a full-time faculty of the College of Commerce then and the College of Arts and Sciences. Prior to this, she was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Market Analysis of Xavier University. She is a graduate of Liberal Arts and Commerce majors in Management and Economics from Ateneo, Master in Agricultural Economics at Xavier University, and Doctor of Philosophy in Behavioral Management at University of Nueva Caceres.

Dr. Keshav Bashyal

Location:

New Delhi, India

Organization:

Koirala India-Nepal Foundation

Dr. Keshav Bashyal, PhD in International Studies, thesis title ‘Nepali Migrants in India: A Study of Political and Economic Implications for Nepal’ from Centre for South Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India (2014). Currently he is engaged in the Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi as a Principal Researcher in the B.P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation (BPKF). He is conducting research on the socio-economic status of Nepali migrants in Delhi-NCR, India since May 2015. His prior services include Team Leader in Center for Migration and International Relation, Kathmandu (November 2014- March 2015) where he did ethnographic research on access and use of technology by Nepali migrant workers to Qatar. He served as Research Consultant in International Labor Organization (ILO) where he conducted national research in India (as a destination country) under the Labor Market Trends Analysis in selected destination countries for migrant workers from Nepal (June-August 2014). He worked as a Principal Investigator in the Embassy of Nepal, New Delhi in the B.P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation (BPKF) conducting research in Nepali students in India: Opportunities and Challenges. He also has worked as a Research Associate in Lund University, Sweden (from April-June 2011 & January-March 2013) and as a Field Investigator in Tufts University, USA. He has also worked as a Social Development Consultant (from July 2004-December 2004 and December 2005-December 2006) in the Rural under Government of Nepal. He is also a lecturer (Master's program) in International Relations, Tribhuwan University.

Dr. Suresh Kumar Dhakal

Location:

Nepal

Organization:

Tribhuwan University

Dr. Suresh Kumar Dhakal, PhD (Anthropology), teaches anthropology at the Central Department of Anthropology, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. Dr. Dhakal is engaged in linking academic exercise to social issues through public debate, academic and applied research. Dhakal's current research interest includes labour migration and poverty dynamics, food security and land rights, social inclusion and social movements, development anthropology, among others. Dr. Dhakal is the recipient of EU-MIDEA research grants and Wener-Gren Fellow (at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY). He did his MPhil from University of Bergen, Norway. He has acted as a consultant for several national and international organizations, including Anti-Slavery International, UNDP, Care Nepal, Oxfam, Plan Nepal, CMI, and ICIMOD. He is currently undertaking the baseline survey of the HOST project under the Joint Migration and Development Initiative programme. Several journal articles and a few books are credit to his name; in addition, he is also engaged in popular print and audio-visual media on contemporary social issues. His recent published book is Land and Agrarian Questions: Essays on Land Tenure, Agrarian Relations and Peasant Movements in Nepal.

Key knowledge areas: labour migration and poverty dynamics, food security and land rights, social inclusion and social movements, evaluation of development projects.

Spoken languages: English and Nepali.

Mr. Sény Thiam Diawara

Location:

Senegal

Organization:

Jappando Project

Mr. Diawara is a migration, development and human rights consultant who has been working on migration and development projects for three years now and, namely, on return, reintegration and insertion programs for CARIMA migrants (Centre d’accompagnement de reinsertion et d’integration des migrants africains – Reinsertion and integration support centre for African migrants) in collaboration with Enda diapol/enda tiers monde and the CONFESEN (Confédération Sénégalaise pour la Promotion des petites et moyennes entreprises et l’entreprenariat des Emigrés). He is the current liaising bureau coordinator for the “Jappando” Project on Linking Migrants, Local authorities, Investors and Economic Actors for Local Development in Senegal. He has great experience in interaction with various national actors and project management on the local level as well as with migrants’ capacity building activities implementation. Mr. Diawara holds a Master of advanced studies in migrations rights from the Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar and is currently doing his dissertation of the topic of returning assistance policy.

Dr. Howard Duncan

Location:

Ottawa, Canada

Organization:

Metropolis Project

Howard Duncan received his Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1981 from the University of Western Ontario where he studied the history and philosophy of science. In 1987, Dr. Duncan entered the field of consulting in strategic planning, policy development and program evaluation. In 1989 he joined the Department of Health and Welfare in Ottawa where he worked in program evaluation, strategic planning, policy, and extramural research. In 1997, Howard joined the Metropolis Project at Citizenship and Immigration Canada as its International Project Director, and became its Executive Head in 2002. He has concentrated on increasing the geographic reach of Metropolis, enlarging the range of the issues it confronts, and increasing its benefits to the international migration policy community by creating opportunities for direct and frank exchanges between researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. Recent of his projects have included the creation of the Metropolis North America and Metropolis Asia initiatives and the creation of a tri-partite Metropolis Secretariat in Asia (Seoul, Manila, and Beijing) to supplement the Secretariats in Ottawa and Amsterdam. In 2012, he moved the Ottawa Secretariat operations from the Government of Canada to Carleton University in Ottawa where he established the training arm of Metropolis under the name Metropolis Professional Development in 2014. He was named Editor of the journal, International Migration, in 2015. Howard is a frequent speaker on the management of migration and integration.

Mr. Ashley William Gois

Location:

Quezon City, Philippines

Organization:

Migrant Forum in Asia

Mr. Ashley William Gois is an educator, sociologist and human rights advocate. He has been an indefatigable community and international network organizer. He is the Regional Coordinator of the Migrant Forum in Asia, a regional network of migrants' organizations, NGOs, advocates, grassroots organizations and trade unions working to promote the rights and well being of migrant workers and members of their families. He also chairs the Migrants Rights International (MRI), an international non-governmental organization with consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Over the last twenty years, he has been at the forefront of international advocacy efforts engaging and influencing international and multilateral organizations to promote equitable and fair migration and development policies, one of which is engaging the Global Forum on Migration and Development, the only annual global platform that brings governments together to discuss migration and development. He also represents MFA in the Global Coalition on Migration, a network of regional and international migrants’ rights organizations and advocates, trade unions, faith groups and academia across the globe. The GCM was born out of the collaborations of its initial member organizations around the GFMD and the corresponding People’s Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights (PGA) processes.

Dr. Ganesh Gurung

Location:

Nepal

Organization:

Nepal Institute of Development Studies

Dr. Ganesh Gurung is the founding Chairperson of Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS), a non-governmental research organization established in 1998 which has been focusing on prioritized issues associated to the development of the country. He was a member of the National Planning Commission (NPC) which is the advisory body for formulating development plans and policies of Nepal under the directives of the National Development Council (NDC). He is a sociologist by training and he holds a PhD. He was the Vice Chairman of Social Welfare Council (SWC), a government body to administer NGOs and INGOs in Nepal (2003 - 2004) and Chair of CARAM Asia (2005 - 2007). He also served as a Task Force Member and Convenor in Ministry of Labour (2007 - 2008) and National Planning Commission (2009). He is the former Chair of Nepal National Network of Safe Migration (NNSM) a non-profit making umbrella organization of like-minded organizations working on the issues of safe migration as well. Dr. Gurung has been involved in research on migration issues since 1990 and has to his credit several books and research articles on issues related to migration.

Ms. Amy Hong

Location:

Paris, France

Organization:

OECD Development Centre

Ms. Hong is a policy analyst with over six years of experience working on issues related to migration, human rights and gender. She has worked at the United Nations Population Fund Headquarters (UNFPA) in New York as well as with non-governmental organisations in Argentina, Brazil, France and Kenya. Since 2013, Ms. Hong has been with the OECD Development Centre, where she has co-ordinated the activities of the KNOMAD Thematic Working Group on Policy and Institutional Coherence. KNOMAD is the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development, an initiative co-ordinated by the World Bank. As part of her work on KNOMAD, Ms. Hong has contributed to developing knowledge products and policy making tools on policy and institutional coherence for migration and development (PICMD), while managing the pilot operationalisation of a dashboard of indicators for measuring PICMD in 10 countries. Ms. Hong holds an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics, where she was awarded the Hobhouse Memorial Prize for the best overall performance in the Department of Sociology and the Stan Cohen Prize (for best dissertation) for her research on advocacy strategies used to defend France’s sans-papiers. She also holds a BA in Spanish and Latin-American Literatures and Cultures, as well as minors in sociology and journalism, from New York University.

Ms. Paulina Larreátegui Benavides

Location:

Quito, Ecuador

Organization:

Norwegian Refugees Council

Ms. Larreategui is a Lawyer specialized in humanitarian and human rights law. She has a master degree in social science with mention in International Affairs from FLACSO-Ecuador. Her master dissertation “Refugee, nationality and the hidden obstacles in the Humanitarian System” was published in 2011 and it focused on the weakness of that international system protecting vulnerable groups. She has worked closely with refugees and asylum-seekers, mainly in her position as Protection Officer in the Pro-Refugee Committee (a UNHCR partner, 2003), and Legal Adviser in the Refugee Office - Ministry of International Relations – (2006). In 2008 she was part of an academic research led by FLACSO-Ecuador, UBC and Corporación Región-Medellín about Colombian refugees and migrants in Ecuador. As Under-secretary of International Migration Policies, at the former National Migration Secretariat (2008), Ms. Larreategui promoted the National Migration Plan and the importance to address migration policies from a human rights perspective. She is currently a university professor and consultant in the Norwegian Refugee Council, giving legal advice to refugee and migrant people who may have housing, land and property issues.

Ms. Cristina P. Lim

Location:

Naga City, Philippines

Organization:

Associates in Research and Community Empowerment Services, Inc

Cristina P. Lim is currently the Executive Director of the Associates in Research and Community Empowerment Services (ARCES), Inc. involved in implementing the City Government of Naga’s project “Mainstreaming Migration and Development in the Governance of Local Authorities in Bicol Region”, a component project of the Joint Migration and Development Initiative (JMDI) phase II implemented by the United Nations Development Programme. As lead person of ARCES, she initiated the organization of the migrant families in the city of Naga and oversees the conduct of the Pre-Feasibility Studies for the CGN’s project in the Provinces of Camarines Norte and Legazpi City. During her Directorship of the Ateneo Social Science Research Center of the Ateneo de Naga University (1996-97, 1998-2013), Ms. Lim got involved in Migration studies. Her first engagement in Migration studies concerned the fishermen’s mobility in the coastal areas of San Miguel Bay in the Bicol Region. This was followed by another research engagement on the Migrant Associations and Philippine Institutions Development in the Bicol Region, spearheaded by Scalabrini Migration Center, resulting in the production of migration articles, among others. Ms. Lim is also currently involved as a qualitative study consultant to the Millennium Challenge Account Philippines engaging herself in the conduct of rapid assessment of the Kalahi-CIDSS immediate impacts on Millennium Challenge Corporation Areas in the Philippines and of the immediate impacts of Anti-Trafficking in Person Campaign in the Secondary Road Projects in the Province of Samar.

Ms. Elaine McGregor

Location:

Maastricht, Netherlands

Organization:

Maastricht Graduate School of Governance

Elaine McGregor is a Researcher at UNU-MERIT and the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance. Her main research interest lies in the area of migration and development, with a focus on migration governance and policy coherence. She finished her Bachelor degree in Public Policy and Masters in Urban Regeneration at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom and then went on to gain a further Masters in Public Policy and Human Development with a specialization in Migration Studies at Maastricht University. She has fieldwork experience in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, the United Kingdom, Viet Nam, the Philippines, Pakistan and Nepal, and has worked with a range of International Organisations and National Governments including ICMPD, ILO, IOM, OECD, the World Bank, IADB, the Swiss Government and the Dutch Government, and has been involved in the design, development, implementation and management of several key migration projects and evaluations during her time at Maastricht University. She is currently working on her PhD on the migration and development discourse.

Pr. Papa Ndiaye Diouf

Location:

Dakar, Senegal

Organization:

Training for Development African Institute

Professor Diouf is the President of the Training for Development African Institute (Institut Africain de formation pour le développement, INAFOD) which was created in Dakar in 2012. He previously spent thirty years in Geneva, Switzerland where he lived from 1983 to 2012. He has been a teacher at the Applied Economics National School (Ecole nationale d’économie appliquée) in Dakar, at the University Institute for Development Studies (Institut Universitaire d’études du développement, Iued) where he taught about development issues and conducted research, as well as in other higher educational and research institutions for more than thirty years in Switzerland, Senegal, in Europe and even in the United States, and namely on topics of migration and development. He has also been a consulting expert to the IOM in Geneva, The Hague African Diaspora Policy Centre (ADPC), the Research and Development for Postal Services in Africa Forum (Forum pour la recherche et le développement des services postaux en Afrique, FRDPA) in Dakar. He presided the African Diaspora Society for Information (DASPI) in Switzerland and in neighbouring France and, on this basis, he represented civil society at the high-level panel of the Global Summit on Information Society (Sommet mondial sur la société de l’information, SMSI) in Tunis in 2005.

Key knowledge areas: policies and strategies in terms of migration and development, programmes and projects initiated and diaspora mobilization mecanisms for development, more particularly by remittances and resort to high qualified migrants skills, in their country of origin, namely in Africa.

Languages spoken: French

Secretary Imelda M. Nicolas

Location:

Manila, Philippines

Organization:

Commission on Filipinos Overseas of the Office of the President of the Philippines

Cabinet-level Secretary Imelda M. Nicolas is the current Chairperson of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), a government agency under the Office of the President tasked with providing policy inputs and recommendations to the President and Congress on overseas Filipinos and to implement programs and projects that will strengthen the links of Filipinos overseas to their Motherland. Under her leadership, CFO became the premier government institution on migration and development, actively lobbying for the inclusion of a total of 75 M&D provisions in the Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016 and its Midterm Update. It was also under Secretary Nicolas’ watch that CFO’s flagship program, Diaspora to Development or D2D emerged. D2D identified ten areas of engagement for the Philippine Diaspora to become partners for the country’s development. Prior to CFO, she was Secretary of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, former Chairperson of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, and Presidential Assistant helping Cabinet secretaries in monitoring implementation of major government-funded infrastructures. She was also Chair of the Women’s Business Council of the Philippines and the first woman member of the official delegation of the Philippines to the APEC Business Advisory Council. Secretary Nicolas currently serves as one of the members of IOM’s Migration Advisory Board and the Advisory Group of the Asian Development Bank – Migration Policy Institute’s project on “Achieving Skill Mobility in the ASEAN Economic Community”. She chairs the Metropolis Asia Secretariat and is a member of the Metropolis International Steering Committee.

Dr. Meena Poudel

Location:

Nepal

Organization:

IOM Mission Nepal

Dr. Meena Poudel is a Nepalese social researcher and practitioner. She has a long and committed history of development works and feminist activism on issues affecting lives of socially excluded and politically marginalized social groups in Nepal and other parts of Asia with various national and international organizations, NGOs and women’s rights networks. In recent years she has been engaged more on researching various aspects of lives of women vulnerable to and experienced trafficking and unregulated migration that includes understanding contexts and processes of construction of social rejection of Nepalese trafficked women on their return, exploring desirable livelihoods options in post trafficking situations. Dr. Poudel is currently Policy and Programme Advisor at the IOM Mission Nepal since November 2013. Her prior services at IOM include postings as Programme Manager, IOM Mission in Azerbaijan, Baku (2008 – 2009), Programme Advisor and Researcher, IOM Kathmandu (2009 – 2012). She served as Gender Consultant for IOM Turkmenistan (2012). She holds a PhD in sociology and social policy analyzing post trafficking livelihoods, gender, sexuality and citizenship within migration framework from Newcastle University, UK where she also served as Visiting Research Fellow (2009 -2013). She has extensively written on these issues including single authored book ‘Dealing with Hidden Issues: Social Rejection Experienced by Trafficked Women in Nepal’ published in 2011. Prior to IOM, she worked with various national and international NGOs, funding agencies and academic institutions.

Mr. Pape Sakho

Location:

Dakar, Senegal

Organization:

Cheikh Anta Diop University

Mr. Pape Sakho has been a teacher-researcher geographer at Cheikh Anta Diop Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences and Population Institute, in Dakar, for 20 years and has been interested in migrations for about a decade. He has been working for more than 10 years and has been conducting research, teaching and support to structures activities on migrations issues in parallel. Since 2005, he is involved, as the Senegalese research team leader, in several international research projects on migrations between Africa and Europe. He is the inter-faculty coordinator for the International migration, development and intercultural relations Master (MIRI) which welcomes, on the 3rd semester, MITRA Identity and Mobility Conflicts Erasmus Mundus master students. In terms of expertise, he conducted, as a resource person, studies and supported many national structures (Human Capital and Sustainable Development Directorate, Ministry for Senegalese abroad) as well as international organizations (UNESCO, UNDP, IOM, ECOWAS…)

Mr. Ousseynou Seck

Location:

Senegal

Organization:

Diourbel Regional Development Agency

Mr. Ousseynou Seck has extensive experience in the field of migration and development, on account of his missions on migrants and migrant associations’ awareness; project development and monitoring and; support in outreach to technical and financial partners. His areas of research include the link between migration and development as well as the protection of migrants. Moreover, he has ample experience in economic development, having worked as a project analyst on projects dealing with decentralization, territorial development (regional, communal and local), rural development, project evaluation and monitoring and on the fight against poverty. Mr. Seck is currently the socio-economic development focal point for the Diourbel Regional Development Agency, which has allowed him to become familiar with the main technical and financial development partners’ working procedures of Senegal, the United Nations system and the Belgian and Italian technical Cooperation Agencies.

Keys knowledge areas: Local development planning; program evaluation; services and support to migrant enterpreneurs; migration and development; migrant protection.

Languages spoken: French.

Dr. Giulia Sinatti

Location:

Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Organization:

Free University Amsterdam, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

Dr. Sinatti is a migration expert with 17 years of professional experience in this field. She regularly combines positions in university with independent consultancy assignments for intergovernmental and UN agencies (GFMD, UNDP, ICMPD, ILO), international NGOs (Caritas International, Terre des Hommes Federation), local authorities, and grassroots migrant associations. She specializes in in-depth, qualitative research on migration-related phenomena and strives for her work to be both scientifically sound and societally relevant. For instance, she is co-author of the JMDI handbook on Migration and Development written to distil lessons learned and identify practical recommendations for policymakers and practitioners. She has also widely published on the topic of migration and development in academic outlets.

Mr. Moustapha Talla

Location:

Turin, Italy

Organization:

City of Turin

Mr. Moustapha Talla works as an educator and intercultural mediator in a community for foreign minors who come from a criminal circuit and are subject to criminal action with the city of Turin in Italy. The project aims to integrate foreign minors and give them new opportunities. He has been working as intercultural mediator with refugee asylum seekers providing them with labour insertion services, training courses, and direct assistance upon arrival for them, in a welcoming center managed by an administrative office in Italy. In 2012, Moustapha was selected by the University of Turin to conduct the UNI.COO Project, a research and international development project in Senegal and in Italy on migration and herbals medicine. From 2005 to 2010 he worked for the money transfer society Western Union in Italy, promoting the effective use of migrants’ remittances. He has experience in interacting with various institutions and migrants, managing project and reinforcing migrant’s capacities building. Mr. Talla possesses a Master degree in International Studies with specialization in human rights and migration from the University of Turin. In his master thesis he dealt with the affirmative actions.

Teranga Rewmi Group Sarl

Location:

Senegal

Organization:

Teranga Rewmi Group Sarl

The Teranga Rewmi Group Sarl (GTR Sarl) is a Consultancy firm specialized in management, project studies, financial mitigation and technical and financial partners research for Senegalese residents, emigrants and foreigners willing to invest in Senegal. The Teranga Rewmi Group (GTR) consists of engineers, accountants, technicians, and administrative Senegalese agents committed to their country’s development. To assist the government in its social and economic development policy, GTR thus collaborates with leading national and foreign partners in their respective fields of expertise in order to achieve success in its various activities. The Teranga Rewmi Group (GTR) implemented a support program for entrepreneurship to help with emigrants’ economic inclusion. The programme strategy focuses on attention given to emigrants, access to information and access to financing. Together with several public and private partners, GTR also guides promoters and returning project leaders to allow them to make sustainable and profitable investment in their home country.

Languages spoken: French and English.

Dr. Colleen Thouez

Location:

New York, USA

Organization:

UNITAR

Colleen Thouez is Senior Training and Research Advisor at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and adjunct faculty at American University's School of International Service. She chairs the capacity development cluster for the World Bank’s major migration project (KNOMAD), and co-convenes the UN Global Migration Group’s Task Force on the same subject. Since 2015, she also advises the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Migration on governance reforms in this field. From 2004-2010, she headed UNITAR’s Office at the UN in New York, where she oversaw all strategic, operational and management functions, and was responsible for the training of 3,000 delegates annually in international law, skills building and UN protocol.Prior to her appointments in New York, she served as Senior Policy Advisor for the Global Commission on International Migration, a Commission established under former UN Secretary-General Annan. Dr. Thouez has taught migration and refugee law to government officials in most corners of the globe, and worked with the African Union, IOM, UNHCR, and the OSCE Stability Pact Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings, among others.

She lectures at universities in Canada, the United States and Europe, and is the author of over 60 published journal articles and research papers.Dr. Thouez holds a doctorate in international law from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a masters degree in international relations from McGill University with multiple grants and fellowships in France, Canada and the US.

Knowledge areas: the United Nations system and migration, inter-governmental processes on migration (national, regional, local), partnering with civil society organisations, capacity development and effective learning, counter-trafficking, and refugee protection and the European asylum regime.

Stella Go

Location:

Philippines

Organization:

Philippine Social Science Council

Prof. Stella Go is currently the Convenor of the Philippine Migration Research Network (PMRN) of the Philippine Social Science Council. She was an Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Behavioral Sciences Department of De La Salle University, Manila until January 2013 and was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Philippine Population Association from 2010 – 2012. She was the Chairperson of the PMRN from 2001-2010 and was the Regional Deputy Chair for Southeast Asia of the Asia-Pacific Migration Research Network (APMRN) from 2001 to 2004. Her main research interest centers around issues in international migration, including its psycho-social impacts on the family, its gender dimensions and migration governance. Over the years, she has served as Philippine country expert for various international agencies such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Labour Organisation, the International Organization for Migration, UN-ESCAP, and UNCRD and as resource person in various international meetings on international migration. She has lent her expertise to the Philippine government by conducting lectures on international migration for the foreign service personnel at the Foreign Service Institute of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and for the Indonesian government where she conducted a training course on international labor migration for the Indonesian junior diplomats at the Centre for Education and Training of the Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs, under the auspices of the ILO. She was the keynote speaker in the 46th session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development (UN-CPD) held at the United Nations headquarters in New York City in April 2013, where she talked on Migration, Gender and the Family in Asia: Recent Trends and Emerging Issues. She is an active researcher and has written and co-authored numerous publications, both locally and internationally on the topic of international migration.

Key areas of knowledge: capacity building, international migration, including its psycho-social impacts on the family, its gender dimensions and migration governance.

Spoken languages: English, Filipino.

Mr. Wilfredo Prilles Jr.

Location:

Naga, Philippines

Organization:

Naga City, Philippines

Mr. Wilfredo Prilles, Jr. is the city planning and development coordinator of Naga City, Philippines. Under his leadership, the city planning department crafted its 10-year Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP), 2011-20, and is currently preparing the successor Comprehensive Land Use Plan, 2016-30. Naga’s CDP is the first to successfully mainstream Migration and Development (M&D) issues in the Philippines. Consequently, the city was given a grant under the Joint Migration and Development Initiatives (JMDI) Phase 2 to scale up Naga’s experience in 15 local governments in the Bicol Region. In September 2009, his team was given the Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award, the highest state honor accorded to public employees in the Philippines. The award recognized Naga’s pioneering effort on its Citizen’s Charter, which pre-dated by eight years the Anti-Red Tape law requiring all state agencies to have their own service charter. He is part of the pioneering group of Ford Foundation International Fellows in the country. In November 2004, he completed his M.Phil. in Planning, Growth and Regeneration from the University of Cambridge in the UK. In March 1995, he also finished his Master in Management degree from the Bicol University Graduate School on a Civil Service Commission scholarship.

Key areas of knowledge: local governance, planning and management

Spoken languages: English, Filipino, Bicol

Ms. Ro-Ann A. Bacal

Location:

Philippines

Organization:

NEDA / Regional Development Council

Ms. Ro-Ann A. Bacal is the Regional Director of NEDA, Region VI – Western Visayas and concurrently the Acting Chairperson of the Regional Development Council, the highest policy-making body in the region. At present, she is the Chairperson of the Steering Committee and the Head-Regional Implementor of the Migration and Development Initiative for Western Visayas Project with funding support from the Swiss International Development Agency, in cooperation with UNDP and the Commission on Filipino Overseas. Director Bacal is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Commerce, major in Accounting at the Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines and a certified public accountant. She earned her diploma in Development Economics from the University of the Philippines; a masters degree in Demography from the Australian National University; diploma in Urban Planning from the Institute of Housing Studies in Rotterdam, the Netherlands; and other trainings in Singapore, China, and Korea. Aside from advocating for migration and development concerns, Director Bacal is actively involved in institutionalizing socio-economic planning for regional and local development; land use and physical planning; mainstreaming DRR/CCA in the development processes; rehabilitation and recovery work; investment programming and regional budgeting; industry clustering, entrepreneurship and business planning; productivity in the workplace; accounting and financial management; poverty alleviation and community-based monitoring; public-private partnerships; strengthening capabilities in project proposal and FS preparation; gender and development; results-based monitoring and evaluation; problem-solving and trouble-shooting; leadership and team building; and good governance. She strongly believes that training and education are crucial interventions in enabling people to participate in nation-building.

Key areas of knowledge: regional and local development planning, results-based monitoring and evaluation.

Spoken Languages: English, Filipino

Ms. Lauranne Callet-Ravat

Location:

Istanbul, Turkey

Organization:

United Cities and Local Governments Middle-East and West Asia (UCLG-MEWA)

Lauranne Callet-Ravat is a young expert on migration and development in the Middle East, Turkey and Europe. She specializes on the role of local authorities as migration managers and development fosterers and the channels for collaborations between municipalities of the Middle East and Turkey and with their counterpart in Europe. Throughout her work at United Cities and Local Governments Middle-East and West Asia (UCLG-MEWA), she supports municipalities of the region in developping projects for fostering social inclusion of migrants and refugees and lobbies towards the global agenda for a better recognition of migration fluxes in the Middle-East and the necessary role of municipalities in its management. She currently conducts a research project in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan on the local social inclusion policies towards Middle-Eastern urban forced migrants.

Through her previous experiences, notably within the International Organization for Migration (IOM) office in Istanbul, Lauranne is specialized on the Syrian migratory crisis and its related development and cooperation programs.

Ms. Malin Frankenhaeuser

Location:

Vienna, Austria

Organization:

International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD)

After her studies, Malin Frankenhaeuser started working on funding human rights CSO projects in East Africa and South Asia, and then did a brief spell with the EU Delegation to the OSCE before joining the ICMPD in 2006. She has been involved in capacity building projects, studies, policy analysis, and global and regional migration dialogues covering a wide range of migration topics. In 2011, she worked for the Swiss GFMD Chairmanship, and in 2012 she took up her current position as Programme Manager for the Migration and Development Competence Centre in ICMPD, where she works on three main strands: migration and development strategy and programming, diaspora engagement and regional mobility. With a Master of Social Science from Uppsala University, her academic background is found in peace and conflict research, international relations, development studies and anthropology.

Mr. Denis Nushi

Location:

Kosovo

Organization:

UNDP

Denis Nushi has studied Politics and Conflict (social Anthropology), social Psychology and Criminology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and finished his Internship at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna, Austria. Since April 2000 until 2010 he has worked part-time in the field of Law Enforcement for the Criminal- and Federal Police in Zurich, Switzerland. Since February 2010 - currently he works with the UNDP Kosovo Office in the role of the Human Development Specialist within the UNDP Kosovo Policy and Research Department. In 2011, he was certificated by the Central European University in Budapest (HUN) for successful completion of the Course on “Sustainable Human Development: From International Frameworks to Regional Policies”, whereas in May 2015 he got certified by the European Security and Defense College on “Peacebuilding”. He is organizational and operational manager of Kosovo Human Development Reports, and one of the co-authors of the Kosovo Human Development Report 2014 titled “Migration as a Force for Development”. Despite his teaching activities and lectures held on migration and development in the context of Kosovo, he writes blogs on regular basis. The last one on migration from February 2015 is titled “Risky business: the emigration game” and has been published by the UNDP Europe and CIS.

Mr Amadou Lamine Cissé

Location:

Senegal

Organization:

UNDCF

Mr Cissé boasts more than ten years of experience in international cooperation in the field of project development and evaluation, with a particular focus on urban planning, local development, and migration for development. Having worked in two of the main destination countries for Senegalese migrants (France and Canada) as well as in Senegal, he has acquired solid experience in decentralized cooperation and intercultural affairs. From 2007 to 2013, he has mainly worked for the Montreal City Council as an adviser in community development and was in charge of integration programs for migrants and strategic planning. He has also supported in the capacity-building of local authorities in Senegal in strategic planning of local development initiatives. Furthermore, from November 2013 to November 2014, he acted as the JMDI’s focal point for Senegal. Currently, he is a consultant for UNCDF’s regional Senegal office. Mr Cissé is also a Ph.D student in political science at the University of Québec in Montreal and holds master’s degrees in sociology and healthcare project management, and a diploma in public administration from the National School of Public Administration of Québec.

Charleene Cortez Sosa

Location:

Costa Rica

Organization:

Universidad Nacional (UNA)

Ms. Cortez has worked for more than five years in the research area of Centro American migration, culture and regional integration.

She competed her studies in International Relationship and International Trade and holds a master's degree in Latin American Studies with emphasis on Culture and Development. Her work experience for the National University includes research in different projects related to migration, security, human rights, culture and Ngäbe migration at the south of the country. She was part of the RED FICCA, an academic network with the purpose of analyzing the different factors of insecurity in Central America and the promotion of a culture of peace with a multi–disciplinary orientation and as an alternative tool to fight against violence and discrimination.

She worked for the Joint Programme Youth, Employment and Migration from MDG-F and United Nations that provided training and materials on entrepreneurship, life skills and safe and informed migration. At the moment, she is coordinator of a research group on Current migration trends in Latin America, with emphasis on north cone migration, Cuban migration and United States migration policy. In 2016, she will coordinate a new project about the possible impact of Migration Policy under the SICA for the construction of a centroamerican identity.

Gustavo Adolfo Gatica López

Location:

Costa Rica

Organization:

Research Program of the Investigation Centre on Culture and Development - Centro de Investigación en Cultura y Desarrollo (CICDE) of the Universidad Estatal a Distancia de Costa Rica

Guatemalan resident in Costa Rica.
Currently Coordinator of a Research Program of the Investigation Centre on Culture and Development - Centro de Investigación en Cultura y Desarrollo (CICDE) of the Universidad Estatal a Distancia de Costa Rica.
He has worked with the Universidad de Costa Rica, the Universidad Nacional Costa Rica and with he Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas of El Salvador as a Professor.
His research work is mainly related to the field of work market, development, reintegration process of migrants returned to Central America and Mexico.
He has been part of civil society organizations from Central America and has provided support to migrant groups in organizational processes. Moreover he has been consultant to different international organizations.

Adilia Eva Solís Reyes

Location:

Costa Rica

Organization:

Immigrant Social Rights Centre (Cenderos), University of Costa Rica

Psychologist specialized in educational psychology and a doctorate in education. Researcher and activist of the human rights of migrants. Feminist.
Costa Rica being a recipient country, her work is aimed at working with migrants in areas of destination. Her main experience is related to the issue of feminization of migration and advocacy for the incorporation of this reality into State dynamics and policies. The issue of gender violence in particular claims for migration to be intersected in policies, so migrant women don't risk to be even more vulnerable and exposed to a greater risk of femicide.
She has great experience in designing plans for policy advocacy and government policy, but also in strengthening individual and collective capacities of migrants and sees the promotion of citizen participation as central to the management of the organization Cendereos.

Guillermo Acuña González

Location:

Costa Rica

Organization:

Institute of Social Studies in Population (IDESPO) of the National University of Costa Rica

Sociologist and Costa Rican writer. Graduated in Social Communication. He has experience in research, evaluation and systematization of programs and social projects. He was research professor at FLACSO Academic Costa Rica from 2005 to 2011 and he is currently director of the Institute of Social Studies in Population (IDESPO) of the National University for the period 2012-2017. He works in the Programme Migration, Social Change and Identities of the institute, where he teaches and does research work.
He teaches graduate and postgraduate at main public universities in Costa Rica. He has been a member of the working group (WG) "migration, culture and policies" of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) since December 2010.

Mr. Rex Marlo Varona

Location:

Quezon City, Philippines

Organization:

Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)

Mr. Rex Marlo Varona is currently the East and Southeast Asia Coordinator of Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA). MFA is the biggest network in Asia bringing together migrant organizations, trade unions, NGOs and advocates. He worked for 22 years in Hong Kong (1993-2015) as a migrant worker, union organizer, and later as Executive Director of the Asian Migrant Centre (AMC), a research and training NGO. He helped organize the first trade unions of Filipino, Indonesian, Thai, and Nepalese domestic workers in Asia; he contributed to the establishment of the first-ever federation of unions of Asian domestic workers (FADWU), which now sits in the Executive Committee of the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), Geneval; he supported MFA in becoming an Asian regional network in 1994; and took part in the creation of the first-ever and only registered cooperative of migrants in Hong Kong, the Asian Migrants Credit Union in 2008. Recently, he organized the Migrants Coordinating Group in Western Visayas. In 2013, he published 'Licensed to Exploit' which presented the recruitment issues and problems faced by Filipino domestic workers in the Philippines and Hong Kong; the second book covering additional countries in Asia will be published in December 2015. He was a youth and student leader for 10 years, initially as Chairman of the Student Council in UP Visayas (Iloilo, 1984-85), then as Chairman of University Student Council in UP Diliman (1990-91). He finished his BS in Community Development from UP Diliman.

Atty. Cecilia Jimenez

Location:

Davao, Philippines

Organization:

Philippine Commission on Human Rights

Attorney Cecilia Jimenez is a Philippine lawyer who has worked in the field of human rights for 25 years. Currently based in Davao, Cecilia continues her work as an independent expert on migration issues from a human rights perspective. Since 2013, she has worked as National Manager of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights special project on Internally Displaced Persons. She is also member of the Consultative Committee of the Nansen Initiative which works on protection on cross-border migration. As herself an overseas Filipino for 20 years, most of it in Switzerland, Cecilia was Chairperson of the Geneva Forum for Philippine Concerns (GFPC) that advocated for rights of migrant workers in Europe and provided advice, with Swiss lawyers, on rights of undocumented Filipinos in Geneva. She was also an official Geneva representative of Migrant Rights International. As an international lawyer specializing in international migration law, she had been providing training and lectures on migrant rights to diverse European audiences and written articles on a range of topics including the smuggling of migrants. For two years, she directed the Human Rights Education Associates online courses on “Rights of Migrants under International Law”. Prior to her re-settlement back home, she was for five years Legal and Training Officer of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center at the Norwegian Refugee Council. Cecilia has a BS in Foreign Service (UP Diliman), a Bachelor of Law degree (Ateneo de Manila), an LL.M. in Public International Law (King’s College London) and an Advanced Diploma on Management Development (University of Geneva).

Key areas of knowledge: human rights, internal displacement, international law

Languages spoken: English, Filipino, French

Dr. Alvin Ang

Location:

Manila, Philippines

Organization:

Eagle Watch

Dr. Alvin Ang has more than 20 years of professional experience in the public and private sectors. He started his career as an economist with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) of the Philippines where he developed his skills in Development Planning, Policy Formulation and Analysis. He also worked in Investment Research and Economic Forecasting with stints at the Philippine National Bank and All Asia Capital as Chief Corporate Planner and as Economist, respectively. He became a full-time academic after completing his Master in Public Policy at the National University of Singapore as a Scholar of the Singapore Government. He went on to complete his Ph.D. in Applied Economics at Osaka University as a Japanese Government Scholar. He was published by renowned journals such as the Review of Development Economics, Asian Social Science, Asia Pacific Social Science Review, among others. His research fields are Local Governance, Migration, Labor and Development Economics and his research interests include Competition and Public Finance. His research on Remittances and Economic Growth in the Philippines has circulated widely. His recent work on the indicators of economic development in localities has been used by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) as basis for the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) rankings of cities and municipalities in the Philippines. He has been regularly consulted by international agencies and the Philippine Government on policy matters. He won first prize (together with Jeremaiah Opiniano) in the Outstanding Research for Development in the 2011 Global Development Awards (besting 400 entries worldwide) held in Bogota, Colombia. He is a lifetime member of the Philippine Economics Society where he was President in 2013. He was Director of Research for Culture, Education and Social Issues and Professor of Economics at the University of Santo Tomas. He has since moved to the Ateneo de Manila University’s Department of Economics where he is currently a Professor and Senior Fellow of Eagle Watch, the School’s Macroeconomic Forecasting Unit.

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